


Where Life Ends and Begins

by MintiSnowflakes



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Baby Dave, Funerals, Gen, Pre S.B.U.R.B., Sadstuck, death of parents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-09
Updated: 2014-11-09
Packaged: 2018-02-24 16:47:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2588900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MintiSnowflakes/pseuds/MintiSnowflakes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dirk Strider's life has "ended" with the death of his parents and the introduction of a needy baby brother, but perhaps a life "ending" is another chance at life beginning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Where Life Ends and Begins

Life was not supposed to end this early. Life was not supposed to put all the nonexistent partying and nights of binging on Doritos and reality T.V. to a sudden halt at only a few years to the second decade of his life. No, Dirk was promised at least three decades of fun, then he could start being a responsible adult with a stable job, and then maybe think about a family. Maybe he didn't want a family. 

Maybe he wanted to marry his high school sweetheart when they found each other once again at the 20th high school reunion. Maybe he wanted to take her out to a really nice first date and totally blow it, yet be lucky enough to land a second, then a third, then a fourth. Maybe, before he knew it, they would be on their 100th date and Dirk would have something worth some serious coinage in a little felt box, and maybe he would have gotten on one knee and made a spectacle of himself at the restaurant just for the tiny sliver of hope that she would agree to be with him until they were old and gray and arguing over whether to watch Maury Povich or Jerry Springer at 12:00p.m. on a Wednesday afternoon.

Life thought differently. Life ended December 3rd, 1996 when he got an emergency call saying that there had been an accident.

They died quickly, thank God, but the two dipshits that called themselves Mr. and Mrs. Strider had left behind quite the problem. A year ago to the day, a little boy had been born to the happy-go-lucky duo. No one had stepped forward to act as a Godfather or Godmother and there was no other person available in the Strider bloodline that would be authorized to care for the kid besides Dirk. Dirk, meanwhile, had never even known he had a brother. It's amazing what parents will and will not tell you after they kick you out of the house for being a bum who sits on their ass all day, after all.

At first, he asked the doctor to let him think about it. He slept on it, thought on it, drank on it, and spent long nights wide awake, thinking of the repercussions of both choices. If he didn't take the kid, then the baby would be shipped off to be brought up in either an orphanage or thirty different households. He could grow up really well and happy, or he could be seriously messed up. Sure, Dirk was all sorts of fucked up due to his inability to socialize, but he had no idea of what too much socialization via being raised in different families every month could do. He would never meet the baby, but maybe that was a good thing. Dirk was in no way a good influence to any age group, and if he were to raise a kid, they would most likely be brought up thinking that Doritos and Orange Crush were part of the Food Pyramid. 

There was no way in Hell Dirk could take care of a baby. He was somehow surviving in a studio apartment in downtown Dallas, scraping enough money for rent by selling petty machines and doing heavy repair work. That was no condition for a kid to grow up in. There was no budget for food, so the baby would have to get used to ground up potato chips and tap water real fast unless Dirk wanted to go on a serious diet himself. By the time these thoughts touched Dirk's mind, it became pretty apparent that he was in no condition to care for a kid.

Everything changed when they met.

It was unfortunate that Dirk and Dave would come to meet at the closed-casket funeral of their parents. Dirk really wasn't expecting much out of Dave--a bit of crying, wailing, kicking, screaming, maybe--but the kid was quiet. It was almost scary how quiet Dave was, but maybe he could feel the energy in the room. While only Dirk and Dave attended the minuscule ceremony, it was eerily quiet. A priest was there, speaking kind, false words about how much of a life the two led and how they will be surely missed. Dirk could not bring himself to care about the death of his parents as much as he was ensuring a cooing baby was happy squeezing and gumming his finger.

He was going to raise his baby brother better than two parents raised him. He was going to say "I did my best" to this kid when he was 18 years old and going to college, and he prayed that Dave would say "it worked" or "thank you". Hell, not even that was necessary; Dirk wanted to see Dave be happy and successful. He didn't want to see Dave in a studio apartment scraping by on Doritos and Orange Crush, freaking out because Life decided to hand him a Wild Card. He wanted Dave to live and not be afraid of Life and the shitty hand it likes to deal.

After the proper papers were signed and Dave was in his care, the two spent their first night together. Dirk had gone without dinner to buy Dave a 6-pack container of Gerber applesauce, diapers, wipes, and baby powder. Now, the kid was asleep on his chest as Dirk rested on his bed/couch, arms cradling a fat little baby wrapped in the remains of an old T-shirt against his chest. The clock on the wall read 12:00a.m., marking the beginning of December 5th, 1996. Gently, as not to wake the baby, Dirk brushed his fingertips over the little blond peach fuzz that sprouted from the baby's head.

"Here's to the first year, little dude. Here's to the first year..."

**Author's Note:**

> PART 1 of a (most likely) 5 part work I will get my butt on once college quits kicking my buns. I'll try and spit out a chapter every other day, but no promises. I will MOST LIKELY get the next chapter up by 11/10/14, but no promises. And I write that assuming this gets traffic by then... I mean, that'd be great, but I guess I should think reasonably.
> 
> I really hoped you like this! If you like Sadstuck, check me out, I've got more things brewing.


End file.
